Marking machine



Sept. 15, 1931. H. A. CLARKE MARKING MACHINE Filed July 19, 1928 Patented Sept. 15, 1931 UNITED STATES PATEN FFICE HARRY A. CI IAR-KE, F BOSTON,- MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO UNITEDSHOE MIA- GHINERY CORPORATION, OiE PATERSON NEW. JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW 3' ER-SEY Application filed July 19,

t This invention relates to marking machines,-and particularly to thetype cairrying heads of marking machines.

Marking machines for labeling, numbering or otherwise identifying shoe parts, clothing and thelike are commonly organized to apply a line of characters designating size, color or other individual characteristic which must be changed frequently, combined with it other characters, such as'case mark or job number, which require changing less .frequently. The type head for such a machine is disclosed in U. S.Letters Patent No. 1,547,- 332, granted July 28. 1925 on an application '15 of Guy L. Keene. That marking head includes a plurality of rotatable type wheels bearing numbers or letters and being'adjust able at will by the operator between the marking operation on successive pieces of work,

2 desired. Associated with the type wheels is an auxiliary type holder or trade plate upon which are removably mounted type members carrying the characters in res ectto which change is desired less frequently. In

'25 one of its aspects, the present invention con sists in an improvement upon or a carryingforward of type heads of this sort-and in another aspect it comprises novel means for retaining separate type members inatype holder and at the same'time permitting selec= tive removal of the individual ty e members;

It is desirable that the characters of the impression shall be as'close together as possible so that the whole imprint may'oceupy a small amount of spaceon the work and,

in the case of shoes, may be located near the top of the shoe or in a window of limited extent formed in the lining. In order to attain such compact arrangement, the aux 40 iliary type holder is provided with a narrow opening or window through which the type of the type wheels projects and the individual type members carried by the type holder are located adjacent to the edges of this opening. On account of this arrangement, the

type holder must be detached and partially separated from the type head to permit turning of the type wheels. V

p In type heads asheretofore constructed,

considerable annoyance and loss of timehave 1 MARKING MACHINE 1928. Serial No. 293,912.

been occasioned by the tendency of the individual type members to fall out of the holder when the latter is separated from the head to permit the type wheels to be turned. An important feature of the present invention consists in improved retaining means mounted on the type holder and movable therewith for normally preventing displacement of each of the type members in all positions of the type plate, so designed that any selected type members may be released without releasing the remaining members.- Replacement or interchange of the desired type members may be thus eifected without danger of disturbing those characters which it is not necessary to change, since these constitute in eifect self-contained members of the organization. Only those type members which it is desired to change, therefore, require any attention on the operators parts This retaining means is made still more effective by reason of theprovision, in the illustrated construction, of an undercutsh'oulder on the type plate co-operating with asimilar undercut shoulder on each type'piece, thereby positively to determine the limiting inward position of the type member and helping-to hold it on the plate.

"As herein shown and in accordance with another feature of the invention, the novel retaining means preferably comprises a plate of spring material secured to the type holder and having one edge formed as a plurality of separate fingers, one standing normally be hind the body of each type member and being'yieldingly fmovable by the operator to a position to release its individual type member. This construction has been foundparticularly advantageous in that it may be relied upon tolocate the type membersv accu rately and positively in marking position and'to maintain them in such position without danger of displacement until their removal is desired. It is, moreover, light and inexpensive in construction and in no way obscures or interferes with the normal operation of the type head.

'These' and other features of the invention will bebest understood and apreciated from the followingdescription of a'preferred embodiment thereof, selected for purposes of illustration and shown in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a view in perspective of the marking head as seen from beneath;

Fig. 2 is a view in side elevation, partly in section;

Fig. 3 is a View in perspective, on an enlarged scale, of a portion of the auxiliary type holder; and

Fig. 1 shows a portion of a shoe part which has been marked by the type head.

Marking machines of the type to which this invention relates are commonly provided with a work support and a reciprocating or oscillating mechanism adapted to carry the type head into and out of contact with work on the support. Such a machine is fully disclosed in U. S. Letters Patent No. 960,029, granted May 31, 1910 on an application of F. V. Merrick, to which reference may be had for complete details of; the machine, although it will be understood that the type head of my invention is not limited to that or to any particular marking machine. V y y In the accompanying drawings, the head only is shown and this comprises a frame 10 within which are supported a series of type wheels 12, capable of being turned upon a shaft or journal 18 extending between the sides of the frame. Latches 22 are provided for holding each individual type wheel positively in position but these may be released to allow setting of one or more type wheels by rotation to bring other characters into marking position.

The auxiliary type holder 30 is detachably secured to the lower face of the type head by retaining jaws, of which .one pair 26 is stationary, being formed as an integral part of the type head, and the other pair 28 is movable, each being formed 'in the downwardly extending arm of a bell crank lever 32 pivotally mounted upon a transverse stud in the head 10 and having at its forward end a finger piece 34. The upper surface of the auxiliary type holder 30 1s a plane surface and this is maintained in contact with the corresponding lower surface of the type head by the two pair of jaws above described. The horizontal arm of each lever 34 is-engaged by a spring plunger 36 which tends to lift the lever and swing the movable aws 28 toward the stationary jaws 26. When it is desired to release the auxiliary type holder, the finger pieces 34 are depressed whereupon the movable aws are swung rearwardly and the rear edge of the type holder released. Complete detachment of the type holder from the type head is normally prevented by a wire bail 13 connected tothe ends of the type holder-and extending over a pin 46 projecting from the forward side of the type head. This bail, therefore,-constitutes in effect a hinge member which permits the type holder to swing down away from the type head sufiiciently to permit the type wheels to be freely turned. From such a position, the type holder may be returned to its operative position by being swung upwardly about its forward edge as a fulcrum, whereupon the movable jaws will be displaced momentarily against the action of the spring plunger 36.

The auxiliary type holder or type plate 30 comprises a flat frame with a narrow central window or opening for the type wheels and a shoulder at each corner shaped to fit the jaws 26 and 28. Both transverse members of the frame are thickened and provided with a series of guideways 31 whichin cross section are like an inverted T and extend about half way from the outer edge of the transverse member toward the edge of the window.

Each guideway 31 is designed to receive a type member comprising a body portion 40, as shown in Fig. 3, which in cross section cor.- responds to the cross section of the guideway and carries a thin extended blade or plate 41,

carrying at its outer end the type character 42. The guideways 31 and the body portion 10 of each type member are so designed that when the type member is pushed fully into its guideway 31and against the end thereof, the type character 42 is'located at the edge of the window adjacent to the type wheels 12. At the bottom of the grooves forming the undercut guideways 31 and extending transversely thereof are undercut shouldersshown in Fig. 2 which co-operate with complemental undercut shoulders upon the bottoms of-the type pieces. These co-operating undercut shoulders help to hold the type pieces against movement away fron'rthetypeplate in a direction normal ,to the surface thereof. At the same time they definitely limitthe movement of thetype pieces so that the characters 42 thereof are alined alongside of the window opening. By inserting the desired type members in the proper guideways, two aux-- iliary, lines of type are'supplied which are located accurately acent to the line ofthc type wheel characters in parallel relation thereto and to each other.

' Inorder toinsure that each type member is fully seated in its, guideway and positively retained in such position,- regardless of whether the type holder is in operative or inoperative position, retaining means are pro vided for each lineof type members. This comprises a plate 50 of spring material, hav ing at its outer edge an upstanding flange 52 by which the plate as a whole issecured to the edge of the type plate by a pairof attaching screws 56. The inner edge of each plate 50 is slotted so that it is provided with aseries of spring fingers 5 1, one located oppositeeach guideway 31 and so disposed as to engagethe rear end of the body 40 of the individual type member contained within the raceway. The plate thus forms a comblike spring retainer and has a plurality of spring fingers extending inwardly from a common attaching flange. The portions of the type plate outside the guideways 31 are reduced in thickness or recessed, so that when any individual spring finger 54 is depressed it will lie wholly beneath the path of the type member in being withdrawn from its raceway, otherwise the finger 54 makes end engagement with the type member and so positively prevents its removal.

The manner of using the type head above disclosed will be apparent from the foregoing description but may be summarized as follows. Individual type members are first inserted in the raceways of the type plate to form the more permanent markings of the work in hand and this is done by depressing the appropriate spring fingers 54 and slipping the body oii the type member into the raceway associated with the finger. As suggested in Fig. 4, the number 7541 is formed by one row of type members and the number 5036- by the other. One of these numbers may designate the case number of the shoes to be marked and the other a ledger number or job number of which the case is a part. The type wheels 12 are then turned to form the more changeable designation for the shoe part. As shown in Fig. 4, the number 440 indicates the size and width of the shoe and the number 3421 may identify the leather of which the shoe part is formed. The impression is then made upon the shoe part 60, preferably on the lining thereof which is exposed through a window 62 provided for that purpose in the leather of the lining. The next shoe part to be marked should carry the up per and lower lines of designations without change but if it differs in size or in material, the operator will depress the finger pieces 34, allowing the auxiliary type plate to swing downwardly so that she may make an appropriate change in the setting of the type wheels 12. The auxiliary type plate is then restored to operative position and the next shoe part may be marked.

It will be apparent that in this operation the retaining means remains at all times a part of the type plate, moving with it and retaining the individual type members regardless of its position. The depression of any one of the spring fingers 54 may, moreover, be made without disturbing in any way any other of the spring fingers and this may be done when replacing individual type members in any position oi. the type plate.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a type head, a separable type plate having supporting ways for a plurality of individual type pieces which have undercut shoulders, each of said ways comprising an undercut shoulder to co-operate with the undercut shoulder of the type piece to limit the inward movement of the type piece and to prevent displacement of the piece away from the surface oi the type plate, and separately releasable retaining members to hold said' type pieces in said ways.

' 2. In a type-head, a type-plate having supporting means for a plurality of individual type characters, and a single retaining means attached to said plate acting upon a plurality of said'type characters normally to prevent displacement thereof and having distinct spring fingers which may be operated to release certain type characters without releasing the remaining type characters.

8. In a type head, a type plate having a plurality of undercut grooves open at one end, individual type pieces shaped to fit in said grooves, shoulders in the grooves on the type plate to limit inward movement of the type pieces, and separately releasable retaining members normally preventing detachment of the type pieces.

4. In a type head, a type plate having a plurality of undercut grooves and provided at the bottom of said grooves with undercut shoulders, removable type pieces having undercut portions to fit in said grooves and provided with undercut shoulders to co-operate with the shoulders on the type plate, thereby to determine the limiting position of said type pieces lengthwise of the grooves, and independently releasable members for holding said type pieces in the grooves.

5. In a type head, a type plate having a window opening and a plurality of undercut grooves side by side alongside said Window opening, each of said grooves opening at one end away from the window opening, remov able type pieces having undercut portions complementary to said undercut grooves, undercut shoulders at the bottom of said grooves at right angles thereto, said type pieces having complementary undercut shoulders cooperating with the shoulders on the type plate to hold the type pieces against outward removal in a direction normal to the surface of the type plate, and separately operable retaining springs co-operating with said type pieces to hold them in the grooves.

6. In a type-head, a type-plate associated therewith and having an opening or window formed therein and having means for supporting a plurality of type members in alined position adjacent to the edge of said window, and a resilient plate secured to said typeplate and being formed with a series of spring fingers, one acting to retain each type member in place.

7. A type-head having a series of type wheels, in combination with an auxiliary type holder separably connected thereto and having means for supporting selected type members in lines on opposite sides of the type wheels, and retaining means normally eflective in all positions of the type holder to prevent displacement of each type member individually.

8. In a type-head, a separable auxiliary type holder having a Window and means for supporting at each side thereof a line of removable type members. and' a comb-like spring retainer associated With each line of type members.

9. In a type-head. a separable auxiliary type holder having a Window and a plurality of guideways adjacent thereto, separate type members disposed in certain of said guide- Ways, and a retaining spring normally holding each member in place in its guideway, said holder being recessed beneath the re taining springs to permit any one of them to be depressed out of the path of its corresponding type member to release the latter.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

HARRY A. CLARKE. 

